Money
used to support new or unusual business ventures that exhibit above-average
growth rates, significant potential for market expansion and are in need of
additional financing to sustain growth or further research and development;
equity or venture financing traditionally provided at the commercialization
stage, increasingly available prior to commercialization.

A
company organized to provide seed capital to a business in a formation stage, or
in its first or second stage of expansion. Funding is obtained through public or
private pension funds, commercial banks and bank holding companies, small
business investment corporations, private venture capital firms, insurance
companies, investment management companies, bank trust departments, industrial
companies seeking to diversify their investment and investment bankers acting as
intermediaries for other investors or directly investing on their own behalf.

Designed
for business development, these partnerships are institutional mechanisms for
providing capital for young, technology-orientated business. The investor's
money is pooled and invested in money market assets until venture investments
have been selected. The general partners are experienced investment managers who
select and invest the equity and debt securities of firms with growth potential
and the ability to go public in the near future.

The
cash available to an enterprise for day-to-day operations. This can be a firm's
short-term investment of current assets, including cash, short-term securities,
accounts receivable and inventories.

Yield

The
rate of income returned on an investment, expressed as a percentage. Income
yield is obtained by dividing the current dollar income by the current market
price of the security. Net yield or yield to maturity is the current income
yield minus any premium above par or plus any discount from par in purchase
price, with the adjustment spread over the period from the date of purchase to
the date of maturity.

Zero-base Budgeting

Requires managers to
justify their entire budget request in detail rather than simply referring to
budget amounts established in previous years.

ZOPA (zone of possible agreement)

The range of investment terms or amounts open to
possible negotiation, ranging from the lowest the entrepreneur is willing to
accept (the minimum) to the most the investor is willing to pay (the maximum).